avast! Free Antivirus is a full-featured product, with the same antivirus and anti-spyware scanning engine used in our premium products. Leaner and meaner version 7 provides even faster protection than its predecessor (which often outperformed competitors' paid-for products in independent testing) and offers hybrid cloud technologies, for file-reputation warnings and real-time streaming updates; remote assistance, for easy help from your geek friends; a new web-based management portal; and more. And all for free. These are just a few reasons avast! has the most users in the world.

Hybrid Cloud Technologies

STREAMING, REAL-TIME VIRUS DATABASE UPDATESNow you get each virus signature sent to you in real-time via a connection to the AVAST Virus Lab cloud, rather than needing to wait for a traditional database update. Your database will be continuously updated with the latest definitions.

FILE REPUTATION SYSTEMFileRep lets you know whether a file is safe before you open it - determined in part by how many people have the file and how new the file is. The technology is also used internally, to help the scanning engine make more intelligent decisions.

New Protective Features

AUTOSANDBOXSuspicious programs are now automatically placed inside the avast! Sandbox. When the program finishes, a comprehensive report is generated and, based on the program's behavior, you are given a recommendation on how to treat it in the future.

WEBREPThe version 7 WebRep browser plugins provide greater protection against phishing sites, including heuristics detection of new phishing sites. It can also detect fake/planted SSL certificates, preventing man-in-the-middle attacks against https sites. Browser support has been extended to Apple